Feminine gamification viewpoint: sticky feet syndrome
During the week I read an article in Business Insider on how women are holding themselves back in climbing the corporate career or simply going for leadership positions and they described it as sticky feet syndrome. The points raised in the article were good, the subtle things women say such as “I am slightly concerned” as opposed to “I am concerned” which pointed at the fact that women use a lot more belittling words which then allows their view to be sidelined, because there is not enough weight attached to it. The article gave other examples that as a women I have definitely done.
So it made me think, would there be a way of creating an even playground through gamification, where both genders could include their views, have them heard in equal measure and then have a discussion from a more informed viewpoint. My original viewpoint would be that both genders would like to have their opinion heard in equal measure and from an organisational perspective I would say that it would be seen as favourable especially given that equality statements are included in most company handbooks.
Then I was thinking it also would need to be easy and quick as a solution and to take away the gender biases and even other power biases probably best anonymous. So I found myself thinking probably a pre-meeting quiz about the main decisions to be made, with answer options ranging from “Let’s do it now” to “I have concerns, we may need to think this through further” to “I don’t believe this will work”. You could include the slightly or majorly concerned options also to prompt taking a view. Everyone invited to the meeting has a singular and anonymous vote and the poll results are shared during the meeting by the chairperson to open up the debate.
I personally believe this will take out some discussion time on some items in meetings where everyone is in agreement on the other side it will also highlight concerns and issues to be discussed. I guess one big assumption underlying this all is that individual will vote honestly and no lobbying beforehand takes place to influence decisions. If a vote is cast inside a meeting room, typically the majority and or hierarchy rules and very few want to be seen as the devil’s advocate.
It is probably not a completely flawless system, but it may go some way to assist more informed decisions.
What would you suggest if your were given this challenge?
